Finally found a chair that is good for my back and my design eye 💛

You know when you think you’re a super organised person and you realise you put a full day, virtual conference in your diary for the wrong day and missed the whole thing 🤦🏼‍♀️ Really annoyed with myself, especially because I missed two sessions I specifically bought the ticket to attend!

Back on the office chair chat. Has anyone bought a refurbished office chair? Is that a good idea? Any reputable outfits anyone would recommend?

Journal: The line-up for UX London 2025 Three days of excellent talks and workshops in the heart of the city. 🔗https://adactio.com/journal/21763

Aww… I miss the randomness of stuff we used to talk about on Twitter. I haven’t been hanging out here much but in the last 10 mins I’ve talked to people about bookshelf walls, 9p buttons and ice creams on walks. Zero design or digital transformation. Winning. 💛

Well this is nice isn’t it ☀️🌼

Is there such a thing as an aesthetically pleasing office chair that also offers lower back support?!

Looking for people to join me in renting a cowork space anywhere between Worthing and Hove, East Sussex

Wow. In half a day I have read about 1 design agency closing and 2 being acquired. Little worried it’ll just be the big dogs left soon 😢 Is it time for that flower shop I’ve day dreamed about?!

Got 3 walk n talks with entry level UCD folk this afternoon so I’m actually going to walk and talk for once - not sit and eat a Kit Kat and talk.

Short but sweet hop back up to The Toon to run a co-design workshop for our Rape Crisis waiting lists work. Lovely to do in-person work like this. The humans were working with are exceptional 💛

When you’re at a 40th birthday in January and yours is in June and all you’re doing is making mental notes based on your ‘research findings’ 🤓

Well that blew up a bit! 13 bookings in a day for my free walk n talks and portfolio/CV reviews. People are struggling folks. Any other freelancers in UCD able to make similar offers? I can’t do this alone. Oh… jobs would be good too 🙏🏼 www.designforjoy.co.uk/entry-level-...

Mentoring and advice — Design for joy

Free and paid for advice offerings

designforjoy.co.uk

The lightning talks at #CampDigital are always something special, as is working with @sharonodea.com Excited to be bringing them back again this year 👏

Nexer_Digital@nexerdigital.com · 2y ago

#CampDigital - Meet our speakers! ⚡This year we're delighted to bring back our lightning talks, hosted by the brilliant @sharonodea.com. Sharon is co-founder of 300 Seconds, an event series giving a platform to new speakers from underrepresented groups. We can't wait to hear this year's talks!

2025 goals are official - because they are on post-its. Place your bets now on which 50% I won’t hit. That seems to be the average going rate 🤣

For the last 2 years I've been outspoken about how I think our industry needs to do more for entry-level folk and career changers. As a freelancer who runs a business of one there is only so much I can do so here's what I've landed on: 1/3

Not gonna lie, this is probably the best place I’ve swam yet. Hierva el agua in Oaxaca. It means boiling water. Spoiler: The water is not hot!

#ServicesWeek to return for its seventh year ✨ Please share and save the date: 17 to 21 March 2025 This event series aims to grow service literacy and is open to all UK public servants. Take part if you can! #ServiceDesign #GovDesign #LocalGov #LocalDigital services.blog.gov.uk/2024/12/19/s...

Services Week is back for 2025

Services Week is an annual event hosted by the Government Digital and Data community, bringing together professionals from across the UK public sector.

services.blog.gov.uk

I wrote a Year Note. Now time for a mad dash round ‘the north’ before flying off to NYC 🗽 and Mexico 🌮 I have to say, ditching the family drama and spending Christmas together for the first and only time (except for when Boris locked us in) feels pretty good. 💛 open.substack.com/pub/emmaparn...

Year note 2024

I can’t quite believe it’s been three since since I started Joy and left permanent employment behind.

open.substack.com

Do I like booking this particular Air BnB for my annual retreat because it has a perfect retro grid mirror?! Possibly…

Do I know anyone who lives in Birmingham and commutes near Snow Hill train station? I have a small sleuthing mission for you involving a stolen bag 💛

So, a lovely day at #charitycamp came to a sad end today when I found out my bag (including laptop) had been stolen from the hotel’s ‘secure’ storage room. They are yet to admit liability but I’m thinking they don’t have a leg right. This is the ‘secure room’ 😭

Oh god, I don’t have mine because I’ve left Twitter but it was definitely the time I casually tweeted on a Friday about the NHS work I did to make the Covid vaccination booking service inclusive. People (TERFs) thought I had the power to erase the sex data from their NHS record 🙄 Not a fun wkd!

Ryan Teague Beckwith@ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 2y ago

Everyone should post their most viral tweet here, just for posterity's sake

I’m off to #charitycamp tomorrow, Joy are a sponsor. I’d love to do more co-design work in the charity sector next year. This sort of work has been my favourite since I went freelance. Who’s going to be there? 💛

Ok folk. What’s the plan for doing something about the lack of entry level roles in 2025? open.substack.com/pub/emmaparn...

Why are there still no entry level roles?

It's time to focus on the future of our industry.

open.substack.com

I had such a fab time delivering my ‘Designing inclusive healthcare services’ talk to The Health Foundation last week. One of the most joyful afternoons I’ve had in a while 💛 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Bold offer in the co-working space today ❄️

Wow, what a week! I’ve hit 1k followers so time to hello. 👋🏼 I’m Emma & I’m a freelance service designer. 💛 I work with charities and public sector to co-design services via my company Design for Joy. I love relational service design. I also: ✏️Write on Substack 💬 Mentor 🎤 Public speaking

What a lovely project by @amymcnichol.bsky.social and team. If you’re looking for an alternative approach to advent then look no further. They also have an event and you can buy the book! 💛 ithoughtaboutthatalot.com

Shop – I thought about that a lot

A new anonymous essay published every day in December in the countdown to Christmas.

ithoughtaboutthatalot.com

Is BlueSky having a major surge in signups or am I just being followed by lots of bots all of a sudden?! I’ve said nothing for weeks yet the people keep on coming 🤔